Apocalypse Love and Kisses

Use this thread if you want to share MC love letters from your campaign.  Maybe other MCs will find them helpful

Brendan and switched off MC roles last night for our In The Wake campaign.  The more awesome last three letters are his and were great for doing a sort of mini-reboot as his brainer Jackson left the game and I brought in my maestro D', Rice.

Dear Butch, please roll +cool (hard since battle-hardened). On a 10+, choose 1 OR 2.  On a 7-9 choose 2.  On a miss I'll choose two for you.
• You've spent too much time out in The Wake and have caught the Murk.  Symptoms: apathy despair, nightmares.  You know vomiting is next if not treated.
• One of the rougher algae farmers, Ricarra, has decided you're not so tough and feels safe fucking with your dad Max as a result.
• you feel an inexplicable desire to explore the Under.  You're starting to dream about it.


Dear Linux, please roll +sharp.  On a 10+ choose 2. On a 7-9, choose 1.  On a miss I'll choose 2 for you.
• I will provide you with information about the sphere.  You may add one salient fact about its nature.
• You've noticed your assistant Blanche seems uncharacteristically despondent.
• Between Torn's messed up hand and Blanche's attitude it's going to take you longer to unlock the nature of the sphere unless circumstances change somehow.


Dear Jackson Brace, please roll+sharp. On a 10+, choose 2. On a 7–9, choose 1.  On a miss I"ll choose 2 for you.
• one of your leakers, Corbett from Sagrada, has some intel for you.
• you notice and recognize the person who's been following you: Torn.
• something is seriously wrong with your deep ear plugs!


Dear Rice,
Welcome to Babbel, old buddy.  People here have just been dying to see your face!  Roll +Hot.  On a 10+ pick 1.  On a 7-9 pick 2.  On a
miss… you know how this goes, right?
• You've been here less than 24 hours and damned if Boo's not already got somebody on your boat.
• After everything you did for her, Dylan's been making eyes at Corbett, that little bitch.  If you don't handle this, she's going to jump ship soon.
• Krin's been "drinking."  What are you going to do?


Dear Butch,
Yeah some stuff happened in the Under.  We'll get to that eventually.  What's important right now is what you brought back with you and what you left behind.

Roll +Sharp.  On a 10+, pick one thing from either of the following lists. On 7-9, pick one from each list.  On a miss pick one from either list,
and I'll do the same.

Something you brought back
• Jackson Brace's revolver
• Jackson Brace's Veil
• Jackson Brace's hand

Something you left down there
• About a pint of B-positive (take 1-Harm)
• Preen, the only medic worth two shits in Babbel or Sagrada
• Your left eye


Dear Linux,
Hey, Butch came back from the Under in one piece!  He must have taken your advice.  Mark experience.
Looks like one of your kids is working on Rice's barge these days.  First tell met the kid's name and gender.  Then roll +Hot.  On a 10+ answer two of the  following questions.  On a 7-9, answer one and pick one for me to answer. On a miss, pick two for me to answer and answer the third yourself.

• What does he or she do?
• How does he or she feel about you?
• Who's the father and what happened to him?

***
Love and kisses, your MC

Oh yeah, MC letters are FUN FUN FUN! I love the way they have the potential to weave everything together, like piling random on top of random in the most productive way. Here are mine from our last session:

Dear Ruth,
I’ve been watching and I think you’re doing a great job keeping everybody in Silver’s club healthy and patched up and stuff. Yay you!
It’s been a couple of weeks since the last gig–pretty quiet weeks in fact. But that’s about to change. See, some folks are coming down those stairs right this minute, and the person they’re carrying is pretty messed up!
Roll +Sharp
•   10+ choose 3 of the options below:
•   7-9 choose 1 of them:
o   The victim isn’t too fucked up; 9:00 instead of 12:00
o   It’s some faceless person as opposed to, say, Lulu
o   What happened to the victim isn’t following them down the stairs a minute later
o   Someone already did a quick patch-up job, so get free credit for 1 stock already spent!
Have a nice day,
Your MC

Hi Ascott!
What’s happening! That was some caper you pulled with Lita, Waver, and Nero the other day, wasn’t it! I bet you hardly remember what happened, ha, ha.
So let’s see, as I remember, the bunch of you went down to the Cooper Union to see the world’s most valuable guitar. Let’s see how that worked out for you!
Roll +Cool
•   10+ choose 3 options:
•   7-9 choose 2:
o   Axl hasn’t changed his booby traps, so no one gets hurt (otherwise 1 harm AP to someone, you pick who)
o   Axl hasn’t planted any hidden cameras (or else you know about them already), so he doesn’t see the whole thing
o   It doesn’t devolve into a kind of orgy, or maybe it does, but whatever happens is a real moment of beauty in the dark night of the world
o   You don’t all end up exposing your brains the bits of psychic maelstrom swirling about that guitar
Oh, and don’t forget to tell Nero what happened, and maybe Axl too.
Have a nice day,

Hey Sliver,
Looks like things are going pretty well for you and your establishment. But that never lasts, does it?
That last gig was a hard show to follow. It’s now a couple of weeks later. You’ve had a few smaller shows and a private meeting to cater. Let’s see how it all went.
Roll + HOT
•   10+ Business has been good! You gain 1 barter, or take 2 barter, but select one of the 7-9 options as well.
•   7-9 Business has been complicated. You gain 1 barter, and choose one:
o   Remember Gams, that guy who wants in on your gig? Well that barter you got is a gift from him, along with a note naming the date and time of your next gig, plus a pointed request for an invitation. Thing is, this guy creeps you out. He knows all about you, but you don’t know jack about him. He’s not good news for you.
o   You never could have set up your club without Rolfball. He’s the mole who gave you the maps of the underground and showed you where the train car is. You owe him. Now he wants a favor from you. He needs you to hide something really, really hot, just for a couple of days.
o   Been wants your club gone. Word on the street is he’s ready to make a hard move on you and it’s coming soon.
Break a leg,
Your MC

Hey Axl!
How are things going with you? You the man!
So it’s a couple of weeks later now, and maybe things have calmed down a bit, maybe you’ve had time to go back to your workshop, play a little guitar, and think about things.
You remember that guy? The one that came through the maelstrom? You keep seeing him in your dreams. Sometimes it’s like you’re following him around and sometimes it’s like he’s looking for you. Oh yeah, and he has a sweet vintage guitar kind of like yours!
Roll +Weird
•   10+ you’ve got this guys number! All the questions below:
•   7-9 the picture isn’t clear, choose 1:
o   You get a good, clear look at his face, so you could recognize him again
o   You see his place and know where he’s set himself up
o   You get a good idea what he’s up to
Good luck, man!
Your MC

Dear Nero,
Things are nice here. How are they with you?
So I was thinking about that thing you did the other night, you, Axl, Waver, and Lita. That was a crazy night: fighting the rag men, breaking into Cooper Union, then sneaking into Mercy on the slight to see the tank; the stuff legends are made of. 
So lets see how the whole thing went, shall we? Roll + Sharp
•   10+ Choose 3 from the list:
•   7-9 Choose just 1:
o   You get a really good look at the tank and the place where it’s stored; +1 forward
o   You get a really good look at the Cooper Union and Axl’s defenses; +1 forward
o   Some guy’s been trying to follow you, but you get the tip off, plus his name, and he doesn’t get a good look at you
o   You don’t leave Waver with any acknowledgement of expectations, so she doesn’t get any hold on you
Good luck!
Your MC

Those are ridiculously cool, Tony.  I loved the baked-in recaps.  These are a great glimpse into your game too.  More everyone, more, more!

I find the tone of these to be most excellent.  I love writing to the characters directly, like we're sitting down and having a little chat.  Sometimes I'm pitying, sometimes I'm pervy sometimes I just plain love turning the screws.

The players absolutely LOVED these. These moves might be the best (tough choice, there's a lot of stuff to like) idea in Apocalypse World. These are from the start of session 2 of our game. Note, a couple of these are inspired by stuff I'd seen in the forums, thanks for the ideas!

---

Dear Ethan,
Since you came to Vatican you’ve had the security to concentrate on your work and at least something to eat each day. In return for a stable workspace and some security you are expected to perform repairs and service for Pope and his men and maintain the machinery of the hold. Pope frequently asks you to repair some gadget found by one of his boys out in the wastes.

You know that off to the East somewhere is a slaver town called Circle Town past the river…  nobody likes to go near the river.

While you were away however, things have been going on around the shop.

When you return to the hold from away, please roll+weird. On a 10+, choose 1. On a 7-9, choose 2.
1   Wisher has finished fixing your electric razor for Pope, he’s also already returned it to him, used up half your fuel… and taken credit.
2   Your generator is entirely missing, and there’s a freakish buzzing and scratching sound coming from inside your fridge.
3   Saint Maria of the goggles is waiting at your door when you return, she hasn’t noticed you yet, what do you do?
On a miss we’ll each choose 1.

Cheers!
Your MC 

---

Dear Blue,
Since you came to Vatican, you’ve been asked to provide security for the city and Pope calls upon you to do some of his dirty work from time to time. He provides you with safe lodging and regular meals sometimes in the hall with his closest men or the visiting goggles a few of whom you know by name. Paul, Joseph, Maria.

You know that off to the East somewhere is a slaver town called Circle Town past the river…  nobody likes to go near the river.

When you return to the hold from away, please roll+cool. On a 10+, choose 1. On a 7-9, choose 2.
1   You’re driving right? Too bad you didn’t make it back before nightfall, funny how nobody noticed the bullet-holes in the car?
2   You got a new job you’ve got to take care of back at the hold which will pay 2 barter. What is it and who will it piss off? It’s probably not something nice.
3   Somebody has slashed up this girl Ember’s with a knife and she won’t say who, why did she come to your door?
On a miss we’ll each choose 1.

Cheers!
Your MC

---

Dear Gabriel,
Since you came to Vatican, you’ve been expected to tend to the injured of Popes people and his gang. They do get infected with this mold sometimes, and in the rare case you can save them but it uses up your kit fast. In exchange he allows you safe lodging and at least semi regular meals and a place to call home and grow your garden. Cardinal Newton’s wife Minerva occasionally consults with you about her crops.

You know that off to the East somewhere is a slaver town called Circle Town past the river…  nobody likes to go near the river.

When you return to the hold from away, please roll+sharp. On a 10+, choose 1. On a 7-9, choose 2.
1   Someone’s been in your garden, and a bunch of clippings are missing, oh, and there’s blood splattered around.
2   The cannibal Kettle is hiding in your place, he looks terrified. Gel and Ange don’t know what to do.
3   Saint Joseph of the goggles is in town and is looking for you. Word is he’s got an infected man and he expects you to treat him.
On a miss we’ll each choose 1.

Cheers!
Your MC

wait, so are these beginning-of-session moves?

Yes, there seem to be unfortunately a number of disconnected threads of them going around.

Okay, so for some reason I feel like it's been a lot longer between last session and the next than the other sessions have been (but it's not), so I've created some love letters for our game on Tuesday.

Harry, Kyle, and Nathan: If you don't want to see what's going to hit the table on Tuesday, don't read ahead. But you're going to have to roll for it anyway, so it won't ruin it for you (unless, you know, it will, judged by you) if you read ahead.

---
Dear Key (the angel),

You've been taking care of poor little Clarion for a while now. Let's see how that's been going. Roll+hard.

On a 10+, you've managed to take care of Clarion well enough without touching him, and so far you've caught no hell for it. Damn impressive.

On a 7-9, choose 1:
-Clarion's begun vomiting blood. You can get him to stop before he dies, but fuck, you have to touch him to give him the stuff he needs.
-Kettle (the shirtless one with meat in his beard) heard rumor that one of his kids disappeared, and the rumor pointed him to you. He's at the door.

On a miss, both.

love & kisses,

your MC
---

Dear Dust (the hocus),

The wasting worm has had its way with you for a whole day now! Let's see what's happened while you've been passed out groaning. Roll+sharp.

On a 10+, choose both.

On a 7-9, choose 1.

-You catch Amy red-handed, in your stash, stockpiling medical supplies there.
-Wise is behind some piles in your stash, rifling around and apparently stealing food, the brown distilled stuff, and anything else he can get his hands on.

On a miss, you have a few more med things (detail them as you wish), just like last time, but you're missing a substantial amount of canned food and the brown stuff (you lose 1-barter). It smells like sex and looks like someone got drunk in here and trashed the place. Oh, and isn't that Amy's skirt? And that's Wise's favorite knife over there, too!

love & kisses,

your MC
---

Dear CJ,

You've just escaped from Snake's weird fucking gas-drilling death-machine. Why don't we see what happens next? Roll+cool.

On a 10+, choose 1:

-Just as you've set up the perfect ambush outside of the rig Snake's gang starts pouring out of it to finish you off. They count as 1 step smaller than a Small gang, so you've got a significant advantage here.
-You get the fuck away with your hide intact, but you have to leave like now.

On a 7-9, choose 1:

-You've set up a good enough ambush, but Snake takes forever to make a move, and so your guys get lazy and almost taken by surprise as Snake's gang comes out. Treat Snake's crew as a Small gang, so now you're even.
-You can get away clean, but it counts as Acting Under Fire.

On a miss, damn, you've just gotten free of the rig and Lars pops out of the door and grabs Exit, who was dawdling. Now she's in there with Snake and his fuckers.

love & kisses,

your MC
---

I. Can't. Wait for the next session.

We've missed a couple sessions in Sow The Wind. So here's me taking a stab at this part of game design. It's pretty fun.

Dear Hope:

How are things going for you? I hope they've been going well! But you know what they say, when it rains, it pours. Roll +weird, on a 10+, choose one, on a 7-9, choose 2, on a miss, whoo!

* Diamond's found a new kid, bright young boy named Isle, got a knack of doing strange things with the psychic maelstrom. He's not as good as you, not yet, but it might worry you if you were the type to think of Diamond having back-up plans.
* Exit's gotten sick. Probably from not eating right. Probably not eating right because he's spending all his barter on getting you gifts. Sigh, boys.
* Wisher found out. Whoops!

Dear Jeremy:

Life as a savvyhead, busy, busy, busy. Roll +weird, on a 10+, choose two, on a 7-9, choose one, on a miss, well, at least you tried.

* You've managed to fix up most of the bulletholes Rolfball left in your workshop, and can continue working on other projects.
* You notice the mindspout, which is still there, by the way, is acting a little funny on your sensors, and have an opportunity to try to do something about that before it gets a bit less funny.
* Diamond's got a problem, and he's going to come to you for advice, and probably take it, instead of acting on his own best judgment (ha ha ha).

Dear Brace:

Nobody appreciates the Brainer. Let's be nice and give you some opportunities, instead of hardship, yeah? Roll +weird, on a 10+, pick two, on a 7-9, pick one.

* Exit finally gave in to those puppet strings of yours.
* You caught Pierre sniffing around the world's psychic maelstrom before he caught you. You know he's coming, and you're pretty sure he doesn't know you know.
* Some dude named Fianelly offered you a sweet deal on some receptivity drugs. He'd rather sell to you than Gritch, but he's not giving them away, man's gotta eat, yeah?

I had two players miss last night's game, so I wrote these up for them. Boy, that was fun!

My players: read at your own risk!

Dear Adnan (our savvyhead),

So, there's a bunch of stuff that happened while you were busy working on your infirmary machines and finishing up Exit's car. Here's the big ones:
- Jeanette said Exit doesn't want you trading with any of Grome's people any more, just an ultimatum like that.
- Keeler and Lavender got you all the supplies you needed in the ruined city, but ratdogs fucked Keeler up pretty bad so you put him in the machine for an afternoon; the machine said his brain had been modified like yours was, and he wanted that fixed, so you did and that's that.
- Some of the teenagers from the refugee camp – Dremmer and Isle – got seen nicking some crap and food. Keeler sorted it out, but apparently Isle ran off and he hasn't come back yet.
- Keeler and Lavender came back after investigating some noise over at Mimi's holding, Watertown, and Exit was in the middle of assaulting it. Apparently he won and has taken over. Keeler brought back a woman, Ba. You don't know what the story is there.

During all that, you spent a lot of time in the workshop. In the zone, yeah. Roll +Sharp. On a 10+, choose 3 and on a 7-9 choose 1.

- You've finished Exit's car. Get the Driver playbook and tell me it's stats, same as a Driver defines theirs.
- Ask me to tell you something about the modification you removed from Keeler's brain.
- Ask me to tell you something about the modification you removed from your brain.
- You've spent some time extending the grow room so you can produce more food.
You've spent some time fixing up the fence around the junkyard so people can't just climb over and steal shit whenever.
- Ask me about how trading your food with Ula for Grome's hold is going.

On a miss, you can pick 2 of the questions anyhow but the answers are just gonna be how you think things are.

Love and Kisses
Your MC



Dear Jackson, (our brainer)

Boy howdy, it's taken an age to heal up from that shit. Still, you're all better now, so wipe all that harm off. Awesome.
 
You been staying with Winkle's clan and they've been looking after you pretty well. You've still been out in a shed and all, but it was a fairly comfy shed.

Here's what you found out about them:
- Winkle, she's in charge and she rules the family with an iron fist. She is firm but fair, mainly firm.
- Her man Tum Tum seems pretty amused about the way she runs things but he doesn't interfere one bit. You think maybe she had another man before him and Bar might not be his kid?
- Bar, she's the second in the family with her man Visage – they seem more of a team effort than Winkle and Tum Tum.  They don't take any shit.
- Their kids are Prim and Clarion. Prim's the angel who's been looking after you, about 18 and pretty. Her brother Clarion is a little younger (or maybe they're twins) and hardcase. He's pretty angry.
- Lastly, Ricarra is Winkle's son, and he seems to mainly do work around the farm. He doesn't say much and doesn't seem to like having a stranger around.

The ones killed were Brain, Missed, H and Gnarly. Brain and Gnarly were Winkle's other sons, Missed was Bar's son and H was his woman. They went out looking for that scavenge up in the hills and never came back. Word was that someone over the river – maybe from the junkyard – was boasting about killing them. You promised Winkle you'd find out who was behind it, right? (For those watching at home, Keeler and Adnan - two of the other PCs - were involved in this massacre)

So, you've had a lot of time with them all, and to do your crazy brainer shit. Roll +Weird. On a 10+ choose 3, 7-9 choose 1:

- Take 2 puppet strings hold on any member of the family (you can take this more than once if you want).
- Prim has fallen in love with you. Maybe a kind of “I'll fix this broken thing” sort of love, but you take what you can get.
- You opened your brain to the psychic maelstrom and found out something about the blue tendrils.
- You opened your brain to the psychic maelstrom and found out something about Brain, Missed, H and Gnarly.
- You don't end up owing them 1 extra barter for medical supplies.
- Ask me about what you heard about Grome's plans.

On a miss, you've fallen in love with Prim, plus you opened your brain to find out about the blue tendrils anyhow – ask me how that went.

Ha ha.

Love and Kisses
Your MC

These are the letters I've written.

For the wounded hardholder after he purged his gang from hyena worshippers:

Dear Daimyo.
Life kind of sucks right now, but hey, you did good out there. Roll +hard for me.

On 10+, choose two.
On 7-9, choose one.

* You still got the fight in you. Heal one Harm right now, in addition to any other harm healed this session.
* You are not visited by Hyena in your fevered dreams.
* You put up a good face. Nobody does anything you wouldn't want them to do while you're gone.

Love and kisses
Your MC

For the Operator, after getting captured by a disease vector:

Dear Nero.
You've been having these coughs this morning, and there is a boil on your cheek. Roll +hard for me.

On 10+, Guess it was nothing.
On 7-9, It's staying.
On a miss, it's gotten worse.

Love and kisses
Your MC


For the Battlebabe, after getting captured and spending a day in Newtons camp:

Dear Canaveral
Roll +hot for me.

On 10+, choose 3.
On 7-9, choose 2.

* Newton has started trusting you
* Brace (or Fuse) has taken a liking to you
* Fuse (or Brace) is not jealous of you
* No-one has stolen anything from your pack when you get it back

I just finished three big ones, that'll see play on monday. I'll post them here then!

Canaveral! Awesome.

Oooh, Nero. Don't blow that roll!

Oooh, Nero. Don't blow that roll!

Oh, he made it alright. But this is what he's up to on monday, after Daimyo had him do maelstrom research on the situation: I'll let you guys take a sneak peek.

-----------------------------------------
Dear Nero.
Hey man. You've been working your ass off, doing research, listening to the maelstrom, pulling stinky things up from that dark and murky place.
You've been looking at Fox's gifts at night, too. Tell me something about her and what kind of things she has been giving you. Where does she sleep, by the way?
Oh, and you walk in on Joe's Girl just as he's shooting up morphine, and he gives you this "Oh shit." face. You were not supposed to see that. Ask him anything you want, I'll tell you what he answers.

Anyway, things are a litte too hot, or a little too weird. Are you going to sink, or are you going to swim? First, roll your moonlightning. Then roll +weird, and add +2 if you managed to get a good outcome on your obligation gig: That's the good outcome. 10+, choose two good things. 7-9, one good thing and one bad thing. Miss, two bad things.

Good things:
* Ask me any question about Newton. +1 forward.
* Ask me any question about Sunken City. +1 forward.
* You're spending way too much time looking at Fox's gifts. Ask me anything about Fox. Like, what does she like? +1 forward.

Bad things:
* You've started relying on Two Moon. She gains 1 hold over you. If you disobey her, I'll spend it to have you acting under fire. Nail is happy, though. You're all a big happy fucking family, right?
* That she-husk is watching you from the shadows, clawing secrets from your fucking skull. I will ask you a question or two when I feel like it.
* I'm going to ask you how you would do it if you ever where to murder Fox, and you have to tell me. And for some reason, she's been giving you these frightened looks.

Love and kisses
Your MC
-----------------------------------------

Yeah, I totally stole that "How would you murder X?" from the Sell me on weird-thread. I steal a lot of things.

We're from Gothenburg, Sweden, but I feel that the language of Apocalypse World (the game, not the world) cannot be separated from the game as a whole, so all the hand-outs are in english. Apocalypse World (the world, not the game) is just so american.

I think this Loveletter part of the game is what makes me consider MC-ing. It´s really a great tool to make your players (and their characters) feel special.